1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to attractants for cockroaches.
Methods for exterminating cockroaches known in the art include, one using tackiness plate in a trap and the other one using toxic baits.
The effects achieved by such prior art are expected to be enhanced by a simultaneous use of an attractant, as is achieved by the present invention as will be described hereinafter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Periplaneta americana L., Periplaneta fuliginosa S. and Periplaneta japonica K. are species of cockroaches that are most known and widely distributed in Japan as the house cockroach.
There have been known as the attractant for cockroaches sex pheromons obtained by extraction from the feces and the midgut of cockroaches. Also known are certain monoterpenoids as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open-to-Public (L-O-P) Nos. 56-29502, 56-30905, 56-30940, 56-79602, 56-79640 and 56-87536; fatty acids such as myristic acid and palmitic acid and esters of these fatty acids as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 44-320; and naphthalene derivatives as disclosed in Japanese Patent L-O-P Nos. 61-69701 and 61-72702.
Extraction of the sex pheromones, however, requires a large number of cockroaches. Moreover, since the sex pheromones are of excitable nature, cockroaches do not necessarily settle down with them. Furthermore, the activities tend to go down markedly when male and female cockroaches live together, as reported in Appl. Ent. Zool, 2 (3), pp. 133 (1972).
On the other hand, monoterpenoids require complicated synthetic procedures in order to obtain them.
With fatty acids such as myristic acid and palmitic acid and esters of these fatty acids, only somewhat weak attracting effect is brought about. Further, they produce no stationing or ingestion-stimulating effect when they are used alone, and therefore, addition of starch or sugars is required.
The prior art methods thus necessitate high production cost, associated with somewhat bulky size of the attractants which is inconvenient in use.